Before the Second World War the UK essentially had a single national culture and identity but that began to change with the demise of the British Empire. The 1948 British Nationality Act gave everyone who lived in the UK or any British colony around the world, the same rights to live and work in Britain and between 1947 and 1970, nearly half a million people migrated to the UK. Fuelled by the liberal “human rights” brigade, the notion of a native Englishman, Scotsman, Welshman or Irishman gradually went out of fashion as all post-war governments lost their will to preserve our national identity and forced the UK population to ‘celebrate diversity’.

In the early years, immigrants from different nations and ethnic or religious backgrounds generally respected each other and accepted a common way of life. They adopted the “when in Rome” principle and generally fitted-in with their hosts and lived and worked side by side. But, with the passage of time, the UK split into widely different, often incompatible, cultural identity groups, and this is now creating division. Thus, multiculturalism is now a problem. State-sponsored promotion of diversity is breeding divisive politics of identity.

Once a predominantly white, Christian country things are changing. Multiculturalism is rapidly changing the face of our nation. Our institutions are obsessed with celebrating a multicultural ideology, applauding ‘difference’ and ‘diversity’ while pouring scorn on the concept of a single UK national character. Swathes of multicultural UK have sunk into the divisive politics of identity which falsely portray UK history, culture and traditions as a matter of shame. In 21st century Britain our political elite are embarrassed by any hint of patriotism or pride in the UK’s history and achievements.

Since the 2016 EU referendum there has been a penchant amongst liberal academics to undermine our national identity. Patriotism and love of our country are out of fashion. Left-wing politicians’ have taken to the knee in acts of fake contrition to those who hate our country and all that it stands for. Liberal left-wing cultural Marxists deride traditional values like duty and loyalty and vilify or even try to burn the Union flag. These woke, unpatriotic attitudes thrive in our universities, schools and in left-wing, woke media such as the BBC. Needless to say, the UK Independence Party wants nothing to do with them.

Multiculturalism is the politics of ‘divide and rule’. It creates divisive parallel communities where people of different cultures hold values and customs that conflict with traditional UK norms and standards. It does not require “new arrivals” to integrate but encourages dissimilar ethnic and religious groups to live separate lives and retain and celebrate their differences at the expense of integrating into the majority culture.

In 1966, Labour’s Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins ushered in a state-backed policy of multiculturalism. He rejected the ‘melting pot’ policy of assimilating migrants into a UK identity in favour of ‘cultural diversity’. Labour’s efforts to create a multicultural society went too far, too fast. We now see cultures which largely do not coexist, living parallel lives, observing different laws and engaging in illegal barbaric cultural practices in the UK. On New Labour’s watch, multicultural UK first saw the rise of radical Islam in towns and cities across the UK. Almost sixty years later the divisive consequences of Labour’s policy are obvious, and the UK Independence Party aims to reform UK law and policy to make assimilation the key objective.

Of course, the Conservatives are no better as all the establishment parties now applaud the UK’s multicultural society. No disagreement is tolerated by any of them. Anyone who attempts to condemn the failure of multiculturalism is immediately accused of racism, excluded from the media and will become a “non-person”. Parties like the UK Independence Party that applaud patriotism will be side-lined, falsely condemned and kept as far as possible in the political wilderness. Many ethnic communities retain their allegiance to their country of origin by means of dual passports, and although being UK citizens, these people actually have a greater allegiance to foreign nations than they do to the UK where they live.

With so many minority groups now living within our country there are so many different views on what it means to be a UK citizen. We are no longer English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish. We have a country made up of minority societies who all live amongst us with their own different ideas and perceptions and who have no belief in common values or a national sense of purpose.

The UK Independence Party deplores the neglect of successive asleep at the wheel governments. Third-world customs and traditions have no place in the UK. Woke, namby-pamby police are scared of causing “community tensions” so do not bring perpetrators to justice. Our Party will therefore fully investigate the failure to enforce UK law in culturally alien communities.

Since 2001, when al-Qaeda attacked New York on 9/11, we have seen deep cultural tensions across Europe with the growth of radical Islam. There have been violent battles, involving ethnic groups on the streets of Sweden, France, and Belgium, gangs of Muslim and Hindu youths attacking each other in Leicester and anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas protesters marching on the streets of London to attack Israeli buildings, the police and our own historic statues. Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath sacked Enoch Powell from his position as Shadow Defence Secretary following his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, delivered on 20 April 1968. At the time, several polls suggested that 67% to 82% of the UK population agreed with Enoch Powell. Many people in the UK felt that Powell ‘was the first British politician who was actually listening to them’ and many today will say, ‘Enoch was right!’

The UK Independence Party recognises the dangers of a divided society. We want to restore a single unifying culture, to our nation, open to anyone who wants to identify with the UK and its traditional values and culture, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. We reject multiculturalism and believe that only a process of assimilation can overcome the divisions of the past, re-claim a cohesive nation and repair the damage caused by successive establishment politicians since the Second World War. Our fight for what we stand for as a nation is now more important than ever.

Steve Grimes

UK Independence Party - Spokesman for Business, Foreign Affairs and Culture